Carlos Lee Rumors: Sunday

Yesterday, we learned a deal is on the table for the Dodgers to acquireCarlos Lee and cash from the Astros for pitching prospect Garrett Gould. All that is needed is for Lee to approve the trade. Here's the latest:

The Dodgers have pulled the plug on the Lee trade and will look elsewhere for a bat, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

Sources tell ESPN.com's Buster Olney that Lee has not changed his mind since Saturday and won't agree to a deal (via Twitter).

Lee told reporters, including Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, that he still hasn't made a decision and admitted the weight of trying to decide whether to accept the trade to the Dodgers or stay in Houston has been difficult. McTaggart writes several of Lee's teammates feel he wants to remain with the Astros.

Comments

No offense to Houston, because I do think they are doing a lot of good things with their new regime, but why should this be much of a decision? They probably won’t re-sign him anyways so why not go to a division leader and try to get them in the playoffs? I guess first basemen named Lee are very stubborn.

I understand that Lee doesn’t want to leave Houston due to the fact that he owns a cattle business there. But what player would give up the opportunity to play in the playoffs? And especially in Lee’s case, he’s only been in the playoffs once in his career, and that was back in 2000. Isn’t it every player’s goal to go to the playoffs and play for a world series ring? It should be, at the very least.

Not Carlos. He’s a bum and a slob and he only shows up to collect his paycheck. He’s late a lot and reporters are always saying how they see him texting on his phone at his locker 15 minutes after everyone else has started practice. He doesn’t care about winning or the playoffs or anything, he just wants to makes his money and putz around on his cattle ranch.

Well me and many other Astros fans really don’t want Lee anymore. He’s really not a bad ball player, it just seems he’s being far too selfish. Compared to Berkman and Oswalt, but then again they actually liked to win.

You know, I can’t really agree with the selfish tag. He signed a contract; he asked for and was given a no trade clause. I’m not going to penalize a player for wanting his contract terms honored. Houston should have considered they may want to trade him some day way back when they agreed to the no trade clause, and should consider the mistake here is on them. Lee is apparently content to honor the terms of the contract he signed. It is his right to do so.

That was actually by the old regime and not the current owner and GM. Purpura back then should never have had the title GM. He cost us alot of players and draft picks. Drayton McClane wasn’t much of an owner. So the current owner is stuck with prior Owner and the GM’s mistake.

nooo i think this guy is pretty selfish. This guy has no real desires to play baseball anymore. He is overweight season after season. He only wants to stay so he can be close to his ranch. He has a chance to win, but doesnt want to deal with any real scrutiny. I’m hoping someone will sign him and we will get a comp pick

If he doesn’t want to leave to help a team in the thick of a playoff race, I’d assume he’s not going to want to leave in the off season. Do Astros fans think it’s at all possible he either stays in Houston (on a much smaller contract) or retires, and considers those his only options?

Yeah we are tired of Loney. But at least Loney has great defense. With Carlos Lee your getting an ageing bat with no defense. We all want someone to replace Loney but getting Lee just seems like such a desperate move.

It is a desperate move, but these are desperate times. How many more shutouts can you stand to watch? If Lee does come, Loney is not gone but moved into a more situational role. I think this is an okay stopgap move, but not if Lee keeps doing his Hamlet act.

Your right. I guess i never thought of it that way. I assumed Lee’s coming to L.A would mean Loney’s ultimate departure. I guess i just felt like we could weather the storm till the all star break, but like you said I dont want to see another shut out.

With everything that has happened, we are……. 1 game back. Holy crap! Call in Carlos Lee to save the day! He’s a marginal offensive upgrade, in the he gets singles instead of pop outs. It’d be nice, but not worth a very good prospect. We are one game back! Chill

As much as I’d like to chill, scoring like five runs in three weeks is not a sign that everything is going to be just fine. I don’t know if Lee will “save the day” all by himself, but I think it’s beyond obvious that this lineup is in need of a shakeup.

Of course it is. No duh. But Lee really isn’t an improvement. If it was 3 years ago, itd be a totally different story. We need offense. Yes. But if the guy doesn’t want to be here AND isnt all that great beside battig average, what’s the point to give up a prospect who could be used to get someone younger, more controllable and better?

As i do grow tiresome of Loneys bat, his D is awesome. To be honest i would much rather sign Derrick Lee, give him three weeks to get back into shape, and save the prospects for someone who is a major upgrade at third. This would only cost money, which is what the Blue have most. C Lee doesnt want to win or he would have jumped at the opportunity to be on a contending team, we dont need someone with that attitude. He is also on a massive decline…….THAT is the reason i dont want him. Just me though

With All Star Break upon us, D. Lee will only miss about 15 games over the next three weeks as he gets ready. Heck, D. Lee could step on the field tonight and be the Dodgers best hitter with the journeymen, minor leaguers, and bench guys in their lineup.

The “doesn’t want to win” thing gets old. Ballplayers are people too. They often like their situation even it isn’t ideal in every respect. If Lee says he likes playing in Houston and want to stay there, as another human being, I get it, and respect it. That’s what Kuroda did last year. The part that bugs me about Lee is that he doesn’t seem to know what he wants. At this point in his career he should know.

“ballplayers are people too.” Very true indeed. Just saying if he doesnt jump on the opportunity to win, I would prefer not to have him. I would think plenty of dodger fans including yourself would agree…..i hope. The fact that he is hesitant is a big mental red flag.

I’m not sure if it’s a “mental red flag.” Kuroda really wanted to play out his contract in LA last year, and you could see at the end how much that meant to him personally. Then he went to New York and is playing his heart out there, so staying had nothing to do with the illusive “desire to win” thing. Lee’s been a pro long enough to know what it’s like to change your situation in midseason. I think dawdling over the decision is unfair to both clubs.

Personally i believe Kuroda’s decision to stay was more do to his culture and loyalty. Lee is a professional, but a aging one. I bet he would have jumped at the idea of being traded when he was 30, but he is now 36, 6 years can make a big difference. I believe he is to be set in his ways and wants nothing more than to be comfortable.

I think it strictly has to do with the fact that he wants to stay near his ranch. I dont think this guy rly cares much about baseball anymore. Look at his weight. He still knows how to hit, but does no type os athletic maintenance

Probably the fact that he will be paid like a superstar, cost a decent prospect to acquire, and is only marginally better than James Loney. Loney probably has his annual six to eight week solid run in him. Based on Lee’s road numbers it is probably only 60/40 that Lee will outperform Loney from now to the end of the season offensively. Defensively it is a big downgrade.

Plus adding Lee clogs a spot where, maybe, just maybe a better player becomes available in the next month.

I guess I’m okay with this, as it can’t be all that hard to go out and find a 1B upgrade that is on par or better with what Lee brings to the table. I personally would rather have him than Loney, but either way, no big loss.

As an Astro fan, it would be nice to move Lee. Lee has always been an RBI machine. He would help the Dodgers immensely. I can understand why Lee would veto this deal, however I believe he will be dealt before the deadline to someone. I’d hate for it to be to 1 of the teams that’s competing for a wild card berth with L.A. Lee doesn’t have a lot of range but has only 3 errors. Fielding % is .995. That is not shabby.

and also if you havent noticed Fields is playing in the PCL that doesnt translate well in the majors . slyke and Castle were and are both racking at triple A and they havnt done anything up here. Why does fields deserve to be up there? He is not even on the 40 man roster so that would mean they’d have to remove someone off it and they are not gonna do that for him.

umm what position does Fields play?? oh thats right 3b ONLY. What position does kennedy play or should i say POSITIONS!! does versatility come to mind? have you realized we short of players especially in the infield as much as i hate kennedy we need him right now he can actually play more then one position. -__-

Mark Reynolds.. maybe
Billy Butler..elite hitter, not an elite fielder. Not sure if available
Justin Smoak.. not sure if available
Derrek Lee..old and not sure if he can hit NL West pitchers
Mike Morse from the Nats?
Mark Trumbo.. doubt he’s available
Justin Morneau?
Gaby Sanchez?

I can’t really think of anyone else who is out there and is major league ready.
I never understood though as to why they liked Carlos Lee in the first place.
Unless, they thought he was the only one available, I find that hard to believe though.

With Lee off the table then Butler might be the next opportunity. Under contract for the next several seasons, and much younger, he’s another situation entirely. Unless the trade market for him is very strong (and the given the level of interest in Youkilis and Lee, I’d say not) then “expensive” seems more like it. He could be a long term solution not just a stopgap and that comes at a price.

Absolutely, I agree, and he’d be appropriately more costly. But I don’t see a “massive overpay” necessarily because the market for him wouldn’t be huge. The price is going to depend on the competition and I don’t see who else is going to be in the market. All theoretical at the moment, but I hope the Dodgers are at least talking to KC.

Sad to say but I would much rather have Vernon Wells .240 avg over Lee. Went to yesterdays game wow very depressing. Other then the meet and greet with the players on the field pre game. It was pretty painful.

Yes, I will give you that point. Still if I was the Astros G.M. I would sit down with him and say
“I am the
‘NEW’
Astros G.M.” And we want to start building a winning team and you will not be in the future. And we will be looking at other younger players to see if they might have a future with the Astros like Bret Wallace. I would also tell him that the Astros will 1. try to trade him to a team not on the no trade list 2. only use him for spot starts and or pinch hits 3. Or release him 4. Just ask him to retire.